Since 1973, Northwestern University has been a funded member of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG). Through the years, the University has consistently offered its resources and investigator commitment to both the scientific development of ECOG and to the accrual of patients to ECOG clinical trials and ancillary studies. Northwestern's Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center provides the essential structural support for the University's ECOG program including its affiliated institutions (Cooperative Group Outreach Program [CGOP]). The Cancer Center successfully maintained its NCI Core Grant funding in 1996 (CA 60553) and in 1997 was named an NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center. Furthermore, the Cancer Center has continued to integrate its clinical and laboratory science programs into a well-defined structure which provides important shared resources for Cancer Center members to support ECOG activity (e.g., Clinical Research Office, Serum and Tissue Banks, hematopathology, etc.) And has resulted in the expansion of the Translational Research Programs. Al B. Benson III M.D., F.A.C.P. continues his role as Principal Investigator and Leo I. Gordon, M.D. continues as the Co-Principal Investigator for Northwestern's ECOG grant. Both physicians maintain leadership roles within the Cancer Center resulting in enhanced integration of ECOG and Cancer Center activity. Northwestern's commitment to ECOG is exemplified by its consistent entry of new patients to ECOG trials with a substantial number of cases in follow-up each year. In addition, Northwestern investigators continue to chair numerous ECOG clinical trials and hold a number of key leadership positions within ECOG which include: GI Committee chair (Benson), Data Monitoring Committee chair (Benson), elected Nominating Committee member (Benson), Leukemia Committee chair (Tallman), Laboratory Science Committee chair (Rosen), Oncology Nursing Committee chair (Stucky-Marshall), Lymphoma Committee co-chair (Gordon), Surgery Committee co-chair (Talamonti). In 1997, the Pathology Coordinating Office (PCO) was relocated to Northwestern's Evanston Hospital (Evanston Northwestern Health Care). Since 1993, Northwestern investigators have authored or co-authored 39 publications and 48 abstracts.